


Moments of Perfection

by kiwi_socks



Category: Naruto
Genre: Freeform, It wasn't originally, Memory Loss, More like fail-it, Multi, Mystery, Not Beta Read, Teenagers becoming pre-teens doesn't do much, That plan failed, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-02 22:18:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6584815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwi_socks/pseuds/kiwi_socks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a dream Sakura's had many times before.  Until it is rudely interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke mistaking her kitchen window for the front door.</p><p>"Hey...we failed in so many ways before, do you think we'll get something right, or just screw up again?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Now with EVEN MORE proof-reading!
> 
> This hasn't been beta'ed, so if you see any mistakes, feel free to point them out! Also, I haven't read Naruto since the tenth chapter of the epilogue came out, so...uh, a year? So if you see anything significant that isn't Asuma being an ANBU instead of one of the Daimyo's guard, please point it out!
> 
> Thanks, lunar_serenity, for pointing out how to make this a multi chapter with only one posted

It was a familiar dream, even if she didn't usually have it lucid, but she let herself enjoy it nonetheless.

The alarm was set early, to get to the meeting place at the silly time Kakashi-sensei always called for (And how it was now, with morning shifts at the hospital) She examined herself in the mirror – young, smooth skin, hair still long but a forehead protector on her dresser.  She didn't bother to think away her warm, soft pyjamas into outdoor clothes before going downstairs.

Her father was eying her suspiciously as she lazily ate a surprisingly filling dream-breakfast.

Finishing the last bite (Something she would have never done at twelve), her father finally said, “You sure are eating a lot, especially considering what you told me last night.”

Sakura let out a lazy “Hm?”, and her father arched an eyebrow. Even her own dream was getting annoyed with her.

“You said your new sensei didn't want you to eat breakfast today. That was your mother's,” his concerned/confused face quickly changed, “Not that I mind you eating, it's good for a growing girl.”

“Yeap,” she said, not overly concerned. So this was supposed to be the day of the bell test? She looked around for bits and pieces to put together for a large lunch, just to surprise dream-Kakashi.

She didn't notice her father beginning to look slightly more alarmed than confused and going upstairs.  
  
There was a commotion coming from the street as she dug around in the fridge for leftovers, lunch obviously not having been prepared either. She frowned, willing it to go away and for her dream to stay on-course.

Apparently she didn't have as much control as she thought, because Naruto _and_ Sasuke burst through the kitchen window. Well, Naruto did the bursting, Sasuke following after with a strange antsiness.

“Sakura-chan! _Do you know who I am_?"

“Go away Naruto,” she said in reply, irritation at this dream rising.

He whirled on Sasuke, “ _She knows who I am!_ "

“Of course she does, idiot – if this were a genjutsu, she'd still know you to keep up the illusion.”

There was a pulse-

“Kai!”

“Idiot! Stop doing that!”

Sakura slammed the door of the refrigerator. This dream was determined to follow its own course, regardless of her lucidity.

“What _the hell_ are you two doing in my house with your shoes still on?!”

They both looked at each-other, “Maybe she wasn't transported too, if it's like what you said?!” Naruto said in that stupid not-whisper of his.

Sasuke was narrowing her eyes at her, calculating. Something was itching her brain...

“Fuck that.” (Why censor herself?)  
  
She slapped both of them on the heads with as much force as she could, although her dream wouldn't let her hit them as strongly as she wanted.  Sasuke only fumbled, but Sakura did have the satisfaction of knocking Naruto into Sasuke's shoulder.

Twin looks of shock.

“Sakura! What in the world are you doing?!” a feminine voice said; her father and mother were coming down the stairs.

“Your father was saying were acting strange, but this is-”

“We're nervous about the test,” Sasuke deadpanned. Everyone made some sort of face at him (She didn't bother seeing what grotesque one Naruto was pulling), because Sasuke's personality wasn't like this in her dreams of when they were young, neither the idealic nor realistic types.

“We need to to leave to get there on time,” more deadpan, alarmingly did a set of hand seals she didn't recognize, and then he grabbed her and Naruto's hands, and lead them out the kitchen window.

His grip was tight for a few seconds, and she couldn't help the giddy blush that stayed even as his hand left hers to jump onto a rooftop, easily tuning out whatever Naruto was saying. Although her face was probably _now_ red from the pain in lungs and how alarmingly low her chakra was after the second leap, and there was a sharp piece of gravel stuck to her left foot and two on her right _because she didn't have a damn thing on her feet_. He was leading them to a small clearing between the tree-houses near the older part of Konoha.

Finally at a stop, she bent in half, hands on her knees, wheezing, half-listening to Naruto have a one-sided argument with Sasuke about leaving and being sketchy. She vaguely registered Sasuke putting up some sort of protective field, before turning his attention to her.

“Sakura, what do you think is going on?” Sasuke asked after a few seconds of watching her and ignoring Naruto. She held up a hand, still bent over, trying to get the breath to speak without throwing up.

“...this...is...a...dream...?”

Sasuke's silence meant she was being unusually dim.

A few more breaths as her breathing slowed and oxygen finally filled her brain, it hit. The pain. Feeling chakra.

“...Not a dream! Kai!” her flair was barely enough to break a genin's genjutsu with what she had left. Alarm started flowing through her, blood pumping with adrenaline.

“I already tried that, Sakura-chan,” Naruto whined, and she was finally listening to him instead of tuning out what she thought was a dream.

Her brain came up with a possibility, but she brushed it away because _no._

Still trying to come up with something else, she gaped as Sasuke. He just nodded.

“Dammit.”

“What, you think it's time-travel too? _I_ think it's the Infinite Tsukiyomi.”

Another possibility.

“ _I told you_ , it's not!” Sasuke hissed, a silent 'I would know' following.

“But Kurama isn't answering! Anything!” he followed with a fierce whisper. The vulnerability in Naruto's voice made her anxiety spike even more.

“Hush,” she sounded more demanding than soothing, but that wasn't her top priority right now. Naruto deflated even more and Sasuke had that slight change in demeanor that meant 'smug'. She glared at him, snapping “Sasuke-kun!”, some detached part of her wondering at how she was being harsh to him.

 _Calm down, calm down,_ **think**.

“Naruto!” he snapped to attention. “I need to you meditate. Get Kyu-Kurama-san to talk, or find out if he isn't there.” Naruto blinked, but quickly took on a determined frown, dropping where he was into a meditative position.

She looked at Sasuke, mind scrambling. Neither of them were good at _thinking_ about things. Well, maybe Sasuke with fighting tactics but-

“W-What happened before you came to get me?”

She had to think. And to think she had to _know_.

Sakura tried not to let her anxiety spike again when she heard Naruto growl and felt a muffled spike of the Kyuubi's chakra, but she saw even Sasuke twitch. It was strangely comforting.

“I woke up, realized my body and surroundings were wrong, tested for genjutsu, went to find the closest...”

His clipped, reporting tone trailed off. She would have time to wonder about it later.

“Naruto. He made a lot of noise, but his ANBU followers probably thought it was as usual.  We came to check on you. Naruto kept on making too much noise,” Sasuke added the last bit peevishly. They silently stared at each-other, Sasuke looking at her with...confidence?

Naruto made a louder growl, and she snapped to look at him and saw Sasuke looking in the opposite direction. His whiskers were getting jagged and his nails pointing. She glanced to Sasuke, who was looking at the barrier seals with concern.

(Ironic, how much she could read his expressions given that the current setting was they had been a team for only a day. Back then...)

A flare of demonic chakra that sent her adrenaline spiking before Naruto let a very human “Argh!”, rolled onto his back, and flipped back up into a standing position in one smooth motion. It wasn't as impressive as it could have been, him being shorter than her now.

“His seal is complete, and he doesn't remember! I could barely talk with him!”

“So, space-time jutsu. Time-travel,” she said it before Sasuke could, who seemed oblivious to Naruto's pain of having a friend not remember him.

Sasuke was scowling, not at either of them, but in general.

“Do either of you remember who could have cast it? Or what happened before?”

 _More information_. She was wracking her brain, but the clearest memory she had was of Pain attacking the village, which she had a distinct feeling had long since happened. Had yet to happen? No, think only of her own linear memory of time.

Being scared of Sasuke, Naruto flaming with the Nine-tails chakra, a war...Sasuke again, only with no fear...

Naruto's eyes were squeezed shut in a frown, and Sasuke was trying to glare a hole into the ground. He was a child, and the expression looked so-

-petulant.

She felt the giggle coming up her throat, possibly from being hysterical and it all getting to her, and squashed it down.

She swallowed so loudly Sasuke must have mistaken it for a cue, because he answered with a sullen “No” and Naruto immediately followed with another “ARGH!".

The giggle was in the back of her throat, and she couldn't squash it down in time.

Her shoulders shook and she grabbed herself, trying to get back in control.

“...Sakura-chan?”

How could her name be so funny? The stiffled giggles turned into raucous laughing, and she knew the boys were looking at her in alarm.

“ _We're!_ ” She gasped out a laugh, “ _Children_!”

The laughter fell out of her with the word 'children'. They were twelve, at around noon Kakashi-sensei would show up at the training ground with bells ready, that stupid cat would need to be caught tomorrow...

Sasuke hadn't awoken his Sharingan, Naruto didn't have control of the power of the Kyuubi, and she...

...She was just a weak little girl.

She felt a warm hand gingerly fall on her shoulder. Naruto had no idea what to do either, other than whisper, “Sakura-chan...” Sasuke was a warmth on her other side, not touching, but...there. Sasuke was there.

They had just as much of an idea of what to do as her, they were both freaking out in their own ways, but they were with her.

Naruto squeezed her shoulder just as Sasuke very lightly bumped her with his elbow.

The obvious mental breakdown could come later, when they had a plan that was being followed.  She took all the feelings of hopelessness, fear, _everything_ that could get in the way of safety, squashed them into a small box and stuffed that into the back of her mind.  Her laughter died down with only a short wheeze.  She squared her shoulders a lifted her head, Naruto lifting his hand quietly. On either side of her, they were looking forward, giving her privacy.

“Right. Today is the bell test.”

Naruto was very obviously confused, “Well, yeah, but don't we have more important things to do?”

“No.”

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, and she silently patted herself on the back for thinking of something, of a plan, before him.

“If we've gone back in time, we need to keep the timeline the same, at least until we can figure things out,” She nodded firmly to herself. _Lay low until you have more information._

Sasuke slightly shifted, and she realized that there were probably so many, many things he had already planned out. Naruto would too, once he thought about it.

“Please,” she said, trying to not to sound too pleading.

She held her breath when Sasuke's reply wasn't immediate. He wasn't looking at her or Naruto, but beyond them, beyond the village. Sasuke finally gave a short, single nod.

“It's a good plan.”

Without any more discussion, he formed the seals to release the barrier and began a sedate walk to Training Ground 3.

Sakura took a step to follow, and summarily winced when the two stones stuck her right foot grounded against the hard-packed road.  
  
"Sasuke-kun..." 'Sheepish' was a delicate way to describe how she felt at changing her plan after literally the first step.  He turned, head slightly cocked, and she vaguely gestured to her pyjamas and bare feet, forehead burning.  Sasuke fully turned, walking towards her now, and  _was he going to carry her bridal style back to her house_ -

-back to her house.  Her house was in that direction.  She deflated as he strolled past her, consoling herself that he  _would_ probably carry her if she was actually injured.  With a couple of hopping steps to brush off the largest rocks, Sakura began after him (again), but Naruto wasn't following. She turned her head, hoping he hadn't already thought of something that was wrong, but his face was scrunched in that ridiculous frown that meant he was thinking very hard about something that was very stupid.

He noticed her, and glanced beyond to Sasuke, who had stopped to also see what was going on.

“Hey, hey, Sakura-chan. Would it be changing the timeline too much to win the bell test against Kakashi-sensei?”

They had fragmented memories and no clue of how to continue. But they were in this together.

 

* * *

 

 

“You three,” Kakashi declared, “are acting very suspicious.”

The Uchiha brat scowled in practiced annoyance and the civilian girl's 'What are you talking about?!' face was good enough that he would have believed it without the context, but Minato's kid...

 _Naruto_ was terrible at keeping his expressions to himself. He looked like he got caught with his hand trapped in the cookie jar while trying to break it.

Suspicious thing #1

Coming to the field, Kakashi had heard murmuring at the edge of his hearing before it immediately stopped within a second of his noticing. Fresh genin who shouldn't even be able to sense a cat happened to stop talking at exactly his range of hearing.

Suspicious thing #2

Strolling in to sight, the Uchiha brat was either very good at pretending to be bored or was actually bored within seconds of the whispered conversation stopping (The later was more odd than suspicious, but he had this _strange feeling_ that it was former).  The girl was staring at him with adoration, but underneath the fawning was something he didn't care to think about a twelve-year-old having the experience to know about. And Minato's kid was so terribly pretending to sleep it was painful.

Suspicious thing #3

An ANBU came to him a few hours ago with a report:

“Sasuke Uchiha came to the Kyuubi vessel's apartment at 5:18, commenced with what seemed to be ordinary fighting, both went to Sakura Haruno's house, from which they disappeared and were not located again for 29 minutes, walking together down Old Main street back towards Haruno's house.”

Well, number three was what made him rather suspicious of the first two, but they had been checked out after being found again and hadn't been replaced with spies. Apparently the whole Hokage tower had been in a panic, not even the old man able to gaze at them through his crystal ball. But they were just genin.

Very, very suspicious genin who had an air of closeness that definitely wasn't there yesterday, despite their decent acting. Well, two of them.

Minato's – no, Naruto, was still exactly frozen in his position of guilt (Impressive, given he had been silently staring at them for more than four minutes now), Sakura was beginning shown slight signs of nervousness, and Sasuke was looking even more annoyed.

“Are you going to accuse us of something or get on with the test?” the Uchiha brat finally spat.

Naruto finally broke his pose to yell, “Yeah! Yeah! The test! The test with the things!”

The other two were glaring daggers at him and Sakura, the closest, was barely holding back from hitting the boy.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

“...I see you didn't follow my instructions of no breakfast,”

He was tempted to fail them then and there for not following orders (And being suspicious), but their unity in having eaten, with no accusing glares, gave him enough pause not to.

Might as well let them fail the test proper.

He kept his tone and face nonchalant as he explained the test. There was no surprise in their eyes when he introduced the two bells, and the cries of unfairness from Sakura and Naruto, while very good, were unconvincing after 30-odd years of being a ninja and twice damned them after Naruto's slip.

So they had done re-con. As a team. Maybe that's what had happened this morning...?  Yeah, they slipped ANBU just to find out what was probably public record at this point (He flaunted never having had a genin team before to the jounin who complained). 

It was something more, changes in team dynamics as drastic as this didn't happen, quite literally, overnight. Nevermind they would probably need near-death experiences for this air...

But he would bring up their foreknowing with the Hokage anyway.

Kakashi finished his practiced speech, and trailed off, staring at them. Assessed them again. He let his shoulders visibly drop (Just to confuse them) in resignation that they had already passed the requirements of the test, and he would've needed to keep an eye on them anyway.

He would at least make them work for it, though

 

* * *

 

 

Sasuke was not expecting Kakashi to stare blankly at them after his stupid speech, and was more than slightly alarmed at their once-and-now teacher's body language. He glanced at Sakura, catching her eye. She gave a quick blink before trying to catch Naruto's eye. And failing.

He looked back at Kakashi, who had obviously caught the exchange since he was looking him in the eye with a lifted brow. Great. Hiding, moving silently, disguising his presence in a crowd, he could all do (Or at least do in the future), but deception and acting had been Kabuto's forte.

He felt himself scowl at the thought of the man, who was at this very moment in Konoha, spying for Orichimaru...

Sakura was about to kick Naruto in the shin in frustration for not noticing her attempts when Kakashi clapped loudly. This plan was off to a start that was as terrible as their cumulative skills of deception.

“Well, as interesting as all this is, let's get on with it. You'll fail, no matter how prepared you are. The test starts...now.”

They had spent the morning discussing their memories of the test to emulate it. Naruto had been adamant he'd be able to fake the sleep as per original, but Sakura at least knew her abilities and suggested a change for herself instead. Too much time had been given to discuss “One-Thousand Years of Pain”.

He saw the plan falling to pieces in slow motion as Naruto genuinely smirked at Kakashi, taking his goading words as a challenge. Sakura gaped in horror, beginning to lift her hand. Before she could reflexively change the plan even more, he grabbed he shoulder and pulled her to the woods.

“He was stupid last time, let him be stupid this time,” he murmured when they were crouched, hiding with the techniques a genin should know.

He could see her mind running faster, he grudgingly admitted to himself, than his own could, eyes darting about, pulling in as much information as possible.

“Change of plans,” she said, biting her thumbnail. He shrugged to himself – what immediately happened didn't really matter, only what he had planned for later.

“Kakashi-sensei is already on to us. You back up Naruto, while I...do something.”  He chose to ignore the exasperation in her tone at the last two words.

(When Naruto had still been excitedly prattling on about “Showing Kakashi-sensei a thing or two”, he had brought up Sakura’s enhanced strength, which she had immediately shot down.

“That's a technique developed by Tsunade-shishou, unique to her. A fresh genin with a _civilian_ background using it would draw more attention than your stupid orange clothes.”)

Sasuke nodded, confident in her ability to make up for the handicap, even if she wasn't.

Naruto fiercely grinned when Sasuke landed opposite him, and the Uchiha heir had to strongly resist rolling his eyes.  Scratch that.  He did.  Perfectly in-character.

“Hm? I wonder where Sakura-kun is?”

Naruto, being the idiot he is, had gone all out short of the rasengan. Strength and speed yet untrained, Kakashi was able to fend him off with one hand, but pushed to only carrying that stupid book. Sasuke glared at Naruto, then directed his gaze to Kakashi's left hand. The idiot screwed up his face in the least subtle acknowledgment.

Kakashi of the Sharingan started 'reading' his _porn_ in the pause, glancing over his shoulder at Sasuke.

“I think I'm going to go kill her.”

It was like a blow to the solar plexus, his breathe leaving him in a gasp.

 _Hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite_.

Memories that _weren't there_ were suddenly screaming at him. His knees hit the ground.

“Bastard!”

Naruto's voice was coming through thick walls, the hand shaking his shoulder feeling as violent as a boat on calm waters.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sakura screamed as if this weren't just a test, this wasn't a training ground, this was life-or-death...

“Goodness.”

Reality came crashing back and he shoved Naruto's worried hand away.

Everything was so clear.

He revelled in looking around him, everything too slow. Just this morning he had wondered how he would activate his sharingan again.

Sakura was slung over Kakashi's shoulder, the older man looking genuinely surprised.

She screamed, only this time it didn't sound of death.

“NARUTO, DO THAT STUPID THING!”

“Wha- Oh!”

Sasuke wished he had closed his eyes before being surrounded by a hundred naked, female versions of his _idiot_ teammate.

Kakashi dropped Sakura and his book, probably currently being overwhelmed with mystification about a Sharingan being so easily awoken and a hundred sets of breasts being his teammates' response.

Sasuke let himself smirk.  Sakura landed on her feet, allowed herself a small amount of chakra to speed her hand up to snatch the bells, and ran over to him with one in each hand. Triumphantly, she grabbed his hand and one of the clones with her other.

Sasuke didn't bother turning off the Sharingan, relishing in the power he thought lost to him for a good while. The clones dissipated, and of course she had grabbed the real Naruto's hand.

“We all have a bell, Kakashi-sensei,” she said when their teacher didn't immediately react and continued staring at Sasuke.

He could see Kakashi's mind turning, turning, turning. He didn't care.

“...That you do. You all pass.”

Their, now officially, teacher put his book away and calmly said, “Sasuke. You need to deactivate _right now_ -”

He felt himself falling, heard Sakura yelp and Naruto curse as they followed like dominos.

 _'I forgot how weak I was when I young_ ,' he thought to himself, staring at the sun blearily through normal eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

What the hell was Kakashi-sensei talking about, deac-

Shit.

The bell had become hot and sticky with sweat, clasped between his and Sakura hands, and they were all a tangle of limbs.

...Which he tried very hard not to think about because _that Bastard gave himself chakra exhaustion_.

Reflexively, he reached out to Kurama help out, recharge his friend, only to get snarling in response.

Looking outwardly, Kakashi was in a battle-ready position with an intensity he didn't have during the test.

Ah. The demon chakra.

“Naruto-kun...”

He mulishly let his head fall back with a 'hmpf'. Kakashi-sensei deserved to be worried after threatening Sakura-chan like that, fake or not!

“Naruto!” Sakura said urgently, shaking his hand, sitting up and trying to pick Sasuke up one-handed, frustration clear on her face. His heart hurt as he looked her, strong-enough-to-punch-craters-in-the-ground Sakura-chan forcing herself to be weak.

Naruto stood up, letting her hand slide out of his, and squatted with his back to the semi-conscious Sasuke.

“Help me get him on my back.”

She struggled to do so under Kakashi's silent scrutiny, but was determined, and eventually got the bastard up. Naruto saw her glance at Kakashi-sensei, then look away with shame as she moved to his front to secure Sasuke's hands around his neck with a zip-tie. He hated being so short that that was needed...

Moments before, they had all been victorious.

Now, because he screwed up, their teacher was looking them...him, warily. The silence was grating. He refused to look at Kakashi.

“...Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei. Naruto's good - good with carrying Sasuke-kun!”

“So he is. I trust the two of you to take him to the hospital. As I said, you pass.”

Kakashi's tone made Naruto nervous; ready to run, to protect.

“I need to go help out an old man now.”

Without further ado, he disappeared.

This was supposed to be a fun day. A day of triumph in his memories, the start of his team.

He stood up with a grunt. Sasuke must've fallen asleep, since his head was resting on his shoulder.

Sakura was still silent as they began walking.

When they exited the training area, she finally spoke up.

“Naruto, you don't have to wait for me. Go on ahead with Sasuke-kun.” He clenched his teeth.

“Nah, even I know this amount of exhaustion isn't an emergency.”

More silence.

“Sakura!” She jumped, and he was glad he got her attention away from the stupid ground. “You were amazing today! And you'll be even more amazing tomorrow! I've seen it!”

She gave him a watery smile, “Thanks, Naruto.”

“I'm serious!” he jostled Sasuke into a more comfortable position. “Just start training and you'll, uh, discover super cool things to do!”

She gave him a strange look, and he smiled wider, trying his best to convey 'ANBU are watching me all the time!'

The snort she let out filled up the pain that was beginning fill his chest. “You idiot...” she muttered.

She stretched her hands behind her back and looked at the sky, “Maybe I'll start meditating every morning. Who knows, it might pay off in three years.”

He had no idea what she was talking about, but smiled anyway, and she laughed at his cluelessness, which made him smile more.

"So, what were you setting up for Kakashi-sensei before he grabbed you, anyway?"

Her reply was interrupted by Sasuke muttering something ineligible.

“Sasuke-kun?”

“Be quiet. I'm trying to sleep,” he said more clearly. She smiled fondly, and Naruto's heart ached in a way he knew couldn't be fixed with only companionship.

And that was okay.

 

* * *

 

 

They walked in comfortable silence after Sasuke's muttered grievance. Sakura let herself imagine this was a do-over, that the sight of Naruto carrying a tired Sasuke on his back is what could have been and what will be.

But she knew barely anything about space-time jutsu, and knew that large scale time travel had been theorized but never successful. The most she had found in her studies of curiosity was moving back a second had left the one investigating shinobi with permanently burned chakra coils. Instantaneous travel, warping of how the mind and body perceived time, yes. But nothing of the sort they thought had happened to them.

 _Thought_. She wished she could discuss it with her Kakashi-sensei, the one who trusted her. She knew she couldn't with the Kakashi who had only known them for, what, twenty-eight hours? And was already highly suspicious of them.

Were they now in a branched out timeline? Would they be in a single one, changing the future, and possibly their own memories, as they changed the past?

Who was she kidding, they already royally screwed up.

('What happened to the 'them' they had replaced?' was a thought she crumpled up, stuffed in a box, and put in the back of her mind for later.  Never, maybe.)

They were getting pretty close to the hospital, but still on back roads.

She glanced at Naruto, wondering what was keeping him quiet. He eyes were closed as if in meditation, and she dearly hoped he wasn't trying to talk with the Kyuubi again. But she hadn't felt any demonic chakra.

Finally, he opened his eyes, face screwed up in slight frustration.

“Hey, old man!” he bellowed, and Sakura had to stop the reflex of punching him. What the hell?!

“I'm pretty sure you're spying on us with that ball of yours! If you're not, uh, ANBU-san, please tell him not to worry! Because you shouldn't worry, old man!”

He paused, considering something.

“Anyway! I told them!” Sakura gasped and stopped where she was. It was obvious to anyone who knew what he was talking about. What the hell was he thinking?!

“And they don't give a shit! That's why we're best friends, and I protect my friends!”

Naruto had stopped walking when she did. She held her breathe, waiting to be snatched up by the elite of the elite. Possibly Root.

(Oh god Root what are they going to do about-)

There was a slight rustle in the breeze, and Naruto grinned at the sky.

“I'll talk to you in person later, after this bastard is taken care of!”

Naruto started walking again, radiating that unflinching confidence of his. Sakura really, really wanted to be mad at him for being so spontaneous and not talking about it with her, but she felt a small smile on her lips and quickly caught up with him.

“Wait, were you talking to Hokage-sama?! Like that?!”

 

* * *

 

“So. You passed them,” Sarutobi said with a slight smile.

Kakashi wanted to take it all back.

These brats were going to be trouble, he knew it.

They were _already_ trouble.

What had he gotten himself into?

The Hokage seemed entirely unconcerned with the spike in demonic chakra from Naruto. He knew he was assigned to be able to control the damn thing, but _this early_?

After the brief report that said everything important, Sarutobi had acted like nothing was wrong and invited him to sit and watch the crystal ball. Kakashi knew the honor, and didn't try to broach the subject again before the elder man brought it up.

They watched, in silence, as the brats walked, also in silence, for several minutes. _Underneath the underneath._

There was definitely something underneath the conversation about Sakura's strength, and he even saw Sarutobi's brow lift in curiosity when she mentioned meditating for three years.

Meditation could make her go from miniscule to average chakra reserves at most. What could be curious about that, other than the oddly specific time frame?

And then Naruto had started shouting at them. Well, at the Hokage, who just grinned.

“You heard Naruto-kun. Nothing to worry about,” Sarutobi took a long drag of his pipe.

Kakashi waited, hoping for more of an answer for the _strangeness_ of these kids who had been irritating, probable failures a day ago.

“Naruto-kun reflexively tried to boost his friend's drained chakra. It obviously didn't work, but that's all that happened,” he said after enjoying another breathe of his pipe, blowing out a smoke ring.

He said it with finality. No comment about the strange awakening of the Uchiha heir's sharingan.  No comment about how he knew that was what Naruto was trying to do.

Before he was about to take his leave, the Hokage decided to add something else.

“I believe Tora has escaped again. That would be a good first mission for tomorrow morning.”

Kakashi managed a grin. He hadn't taught any teams, but he knew the bane on the lives of fresh genin known as 'Tora'.

“That's sounds like a good idea, Hokage-sama.”

 

* * *

 

When Naruto started yelling at no one, Sasuke was tempted to yell at _him_. More realistically, grumble angrily. Or lightly strangle him with the binding on his wrists.

But he was too tired.

When the yelling finally stopped, he let himself fall back into a half-sleep.

The zip-tie made him feel like a prisoner, but he recognized it as the cheap civilian brand Sakura always had on hand, so he could break it easily if he really wanted to. He tried not to think about how it helped that it had been Sakura to put it on, and Naruto who he had been tied to.

They weren't a weakness, not now. But...he didn't want them to be emotionally involved with him. To get hurt for him. To lose someone important _again_ , when everything was still so screwed up.

But, really, it was too late before this whole 'pre-teen again' thing happened.  His clan was already dead, they (he) already attached.

His sluggish mind only came up with the the 'to-do' list he had created earlier and wasn't able to expand on it. Sasuke let himself doze.

The chattering of the crowds was growing louder, then a whoosh and the smell of hospital washed over him.

He jerked upright when Naruto yelled, “Kakashi-sensei?!” right next to his ear, immediately regretting it as dizziness overtook him.

“Just making sure my cute little student got here safely,” he said cheerfully.

He knew without opening his eyes Naruto and Sakura were wary, but the aura of menace their once-and-future-now-whatever teacher was no longer there.

Deciding on the least amount of movement to get the job done, he moved his hands to brush Sakura's hair and pushed Naruto's head in the process. That got both their attentions.

“Bastard!”

“S'allright.”

Savior-complex Kakashi was still himself, the one they knew. If he genuinely thought they were a danger to the village, they'd be dead.

“ _Very_ cute students, I've already rounded up a nurse for Sasuke-kun,” Kakashi said cheerfully.

When Naruto and Sakura stilled, tensed to fight, he (slowly) lifted his head and everything came pouring down in a disaster.

“I heard you wore yourself out awakening the sharingan, Sasuke-kun,” _that voice_ said.

Goddamnit.

Damnit to hell.

“We're staying with him,” Sakura said in a clipped tone.

“Ah, don't worry, we're here to make him better. Despite nasty rumors, the hospital staff don't come from T and I.”

He needed to be strong right now, needed to be able to attack, defend, run.

Not allright.

Fucking Kabuto.

He didn't know the early details of Orochimaru's plan, but he knew right now he was in the perfect condition to be kidnapped.

He started wriggling as best his exhausted self could, trying to get off Naruto, not show weakness in front of the enemy. Sakura placed a hand on shoulder.

“We're not leaving him alone,” Naruto echoed.

“Ah, but-”

“It's fine,” Kakashi interrupted, “I'll make sure they don't get in your way.”

Kakashi too? What the hell?

Without anything else to say, someone – maybe the nurse at the desk? Not Kabuto – cut the zip-tie and instructed Naruto to put him on a gurney.

Hopefully this would end quietly.

 

* * *

 

 

He couldn't call on Kurama for help easily, his chakra manipulation seemed more like an unused muscle than knowledge, so Sage-mode was out, but he could fight well enough anyways, and Sakura looked ready to throw precaution to the wind, just for Kabuto.

He was looking at them with what would be genuine concern if Naruto didn't know any better. Kakashi spoke up, and his heart jumped at the thought their sensei had picked up on the skeeviness before anything could begin to happen - to Sasuke right now or the Exams later.

The walk down the wide hallway was silent.

He watched Sakura intensely examine the IV Kabuto was putting into Sasuke and the pills that came after. She didn't react negatively, so he took that as a sign to not attack.

Kabuto opened his lying mouth, but Sakura started speaking to Sasuke before he could.

“The pills are so you can eat in an hour without throwing up. The solution in the IV makes it easier for you body to turn the food in chakra instead of calories. Once you've eat the prescribed food, you'll be given a pill to put you in a very deep sleep for twelve hours.”

Both Kakashi-sensei and Kabuto were looking at her with lifted brows. She shrugged.

“I read a paper on the benefits of having a med-nin on every team, so I've been studying,” she answered their silent inquiry, waving her hand in demure dismissal.

“Ah, I see you have a fine student on your hands, Kakashi-san. As she said, I'll be back in an hour with food.”

Kabuto left the room, and Naruto let himself relax a fraction.

Sasuke was blearily glaring a hole in the closed door.

“I'm glad I caught you all together so we could have a little chat before tomorrow.”

Naruto looked at Kakashi, blinking. That intro didn't _sound_ like he would be talking about McTraitor.

He continued, “Now, Naruto, I know you're eager to make friends, but you can't go telling people confidential information whenever you like.”

So not about Kabuto, and the old man had told him about what Naruto yelled about earlier.

“You especially shouldn't be yelling it into the sky,” he added, eye crinkling.

Finally acknowledging the Kabuto Problem, Kakashi looked significantly at the door. And stayed silent.

“He's a creep!” Sakura burst out when the seconds ticked by with no question or comment.

“Yeah! Totally can't trust him!” Naruto added. Sasuke made an angry mumble that sounded like it was probably an agreement.

“I see,” he finally looked back at them. Naruto wanted to shout that he obviously didn't or else that piece of shit would already have a chidori through the heart, but Sakura's warning pinch that she didn't bother to try to hide quieted him.

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, but didn't say anything _again_ , instead looking at a non-existent watch.

“Well, it's about sixteen-hundred, so you should be knocked under by the recovery meds by eighteen-hundred,” he paused as if considering. “All of you at the training grounds by seven.” Sakura joined Naruto in groaning in frustration.

“I have an important date now, bye!”

Poof, and their stupid sensei was gone.

Sakura sighed, and addressed Sasuke, “Don't worry, we'll take shifts while you're sleeping.”

Naruto nodded vigorously, “Yeah, yeah, no one will get past us!”  Sasuke didn't deem to respond.  Or was napping again.

It took only a couple minutes to feel a familiar presence slip into the room, making Naruto grin wide and Sakura stare at him in bemusement.

“Bear-san!” He yelled at the wall to Sasuke's left, making the other boy grumble.

Sakura was now looking perturbed.

“Bear-saaaaan!”

There an audible sigh, and a giant ANBU in a bear mask seemingly came out of the wall paint, making Sakura jump.

(He remembered her complaining about never figuring out the trick to sensing a benign hidden ANBU, even as the Hokage's apprentice.)

“You know we aren't here, Naruto-kun,” the voice was distorted through the mask and jutsu, but Naruto had figured out his identity years ago (Years later?)

“Yeah, yeah, ghosts, yada yada. Anyway, if both of us fall asleep, I need you to wake me up.”

“I have work in the morning. And I'm not your alarm clock,” Bear grumbled. Naruto knew he couldn't say goodbye, just like last time. He'd be officially retiring from ANBU to be a genin sensei at dawn.

“Just this one,” _last_ , “time?” Naruto shamelessly begged.

Bear sighed, “Alright, alright. This one time.”

Even without Kakashi-sensei, having Asuma-sensei there, even if it was just required as a guard shift on the Jinchuuriki, made the weight on his mind lighter.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura contemplates shivving Kabuto then and there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the encouraging comments :) Not entirely happy with the mood of this chapter, or any of it, but might as well post it, yeah?

Kabuto came with the food, radiating kindness and helpfulness and everything he _wasn't_. Sakura was tempted to surprise attack him with a scalpel she had found while looking through the cabinets (Organized almost exactly the same as how she remembered), but the thought of 'Bear-san' witnessing it stayed her hand.

Stupid ANBU.

Being able to sense malicious intent and the enemies that came with it hadn't come to her as immediatly as it could have, but she got it quick enough. The Hokage's elite guards, on the other hand...

Tsunade had once (As always, only once) explained: some people, like Naruto, are born with the ability to sense through the secret technique they use; most konoha ninja who had been jounin for more than a decade managed to pick up the ability sense and had a silent agreement not to talk about it; a fully developed sharingan, when the clan was still alive, and an activated byakugan could see through it; but only the Hokage and ANBU knew the exact details of how it worked.

Sakura wasn't any of those. She was never able to sense Tsunade's constant escort then, and now she couldn't sense Naruto's.

Well, maybe not so constant. When they arrived at the training grounds, Naruto hadn't tried to hush them about talking about the previous bell test, so none were watching? Why?

Maybe whoever made the ANBU's schedules was stupid enough, or didn't know enough, to think Kakashi would stick to his.

Which was _possibly_ the only positive to their sensei's constant tardiness.

Sakura huffed at the wall that Naruto had called to and then greeted, seeing someone she could only make out as a vague shape coming halfway out of the wall if she squinted really hard. At least she had been able to hear the bizarrely distorted reply.

And then nothing, no matter how she squinted her eyes or strained that sense that told her enemies were close.

Which meant she was useless against any ROOT activity. Sasuke was too, but that would quickly change...

These thoughts were getting her nowhere, and she didn't have time for that. Sasuke had begun fumbling with his utensils, and she knew better than to offer help. Naruto was intent on his staring match with the door.

So, the time between when Kakashi was supposed to show up and when he actually did would be the best talk in private without being incredibly suspicious. Theoretically, just she and Sasuke could talk alone, but the chances of a hidden enemy only Naruto could reliably sense without being obvious were too much for her taste.

So...what were their options?

She should probably get whatever plan of revenge and pre-revenge Sasuke had developed out of him before anything else – he was probably taking their little time-trip as a means to an end.

She should explain to both of them all the possibilities and complications and theories that contradicted each but were each a possibility.

...Sakura didn't even _know_ all of what she thought she should explain to them. Only that there were books and books and books of knowledge scholars and ninjas devoted their lives to, and that they at most scratched the surface of the 'truth' (Which _could_ all be relative).

She buried her face in her hands and groaned as loudly as she dared, pointedly not caring that to _Bear-san_ , she probably looked like an angsty child.

Because she wasn't, dammit!

She wasn't the weak, helpless, stupid and naive little girl she had been years ago (Or yesterday, depending on the point of view)...

...Now she was being angsty.

_Damnit! Stupid early puberty hormones!_

“Naruto, go talk to the Hokage,” she whispered, determined not to distract Sasuke.

“But what about-”

“I'll _be fine_ on guard by myself in the little bit it takes you to do it! Go get it over with!”

Sakura immediately regretted her words, doubly so when his shoulders slumped and he headed out the door at a brisk pace. Her feelings weren't Naruto's fault, and he didn't deserve to be snapped it.

Sasuke either completely didn't notice the spat or assumed it was the usual, and was beginning to successfully move the food from plate to mouth. Sakura buried her face in her hands, willing her feelings of fear (Both new ones and ones escaping from her mental box) to just _go away_ before they were noticed.

 

* * *

 

What the hell did those brats have against that nurse-in-training? When did Sakura study something that wasn't related to getting third-to-top scores on tests at the academy? He knew enough about her; smartest in the class if there hadn't been Nara, but carefully keeping her written scores just at Sasuke's level.

She had been too busy mooning over the Uchiha brat and primping to do such a thing in her spare time. Well, the girl he met yesterday had.

At least she seemed to hold the leash on Naruto's _very obvious_ intent to maul to poor guy. He was _that_ old and still a genin, how much of threat could he be?

(Never mind he was suspecting his fresh genin of plots that involved fooling ANBU)

And Sasuke. The boy had gone to finding her an annoyance and ignoring Sakura, to having the sharingan awaken with something as small as a verbal threat her life and a little bit of forced killing intent? Sudden feelings aside, how had that even been possible?

Who knows what kind of simultaneous attack he and Naruto, yesterday determined to do everything alone, could have pulled off if the awakening hadn't interrupted it? Something to test later...

Kakashi's meandering pace finally brought him to the door of his apartment.  His pack had decided to summon themselves or whatever they did to show up without his call.  That meant he would have to go back out later to restock on every kind of grocery...Kakashi sighed out loud and went in.

He sat down on his couch, next to Pakkun on the chance he'd figure out something to ask that the dog's wisdom could help with.

“Tough day,” Pakkun stated without much weight or judgement.

Kakashi answered, even if it wasn't a question, “Yeah. Got myself a genin team.”

The dog lifted up his head and ears, looking as surprised as was possible with his surly face. “ _You?_    With pups?”

“Minato's son, the last Uchiha, and a random civilian girl. All brats. All hiding something more than the typical drama.”

“Sounds like you got yourself into a mess. _Willingly_.”

And there was what he had been denying this whole time. He could have failed them for disobeying orders and been done with it, let somebody else deal with the problem. But he didn't. He could justify it with the possibility of them being spies, or some other danger to the village, with how goddamn suspicious they were, that he could still watch Naruto without being his 'sensei', but his gut told him otherwise, and the Hokage seemed to agree.

And he didn't want to go killing kids without certainty that it was the right descision. Kids that looked as his generation did during the Third War.

That air between them, of a true team, of hardships won, pulled at a part him he thought lost. Once again, he compared the strain between them that was there yesterday on the rooftop, to _that_. He'd have to deal with the possibility of the Kyuubi going out of control, Sasuke's revenge, and...he didn't know what, but something _had_ to be going on with the girl to fit in with the other two. All because of his inability to keep his nose out of things.

“Yeah,” Kakashi sigh out with resignation, “I really only have myself to blame.”

He pressed his palm against his eye patch.

“I got myself into a pretty big mess because of some kids, Obito. I hope you're proud."

 

* * *

 

With each bite of food, Sasuke felt less and less bleary, which was probably for the best. The control to at least not show his emotions he had had was...off, and Kabuto was a threat that required being in his best condition.

Naruto and Sakura probably messed that up anyway. His memory was too foggy to remember anything other than their aggressive protectiveness in the lobby and his hind-brain need to defend, but Kabuto doubtlessly picked up on something. Sasuke just didn't know _what_ , which meant thinking about future plans got more complicated.

He had _planned_ on keeping their meeting as innocuous as could be, pre-coaching his teammates to at least temper their aggression to levels that could be attributed to rivalry.

He mentally shrugged to himself. Kabuto and his master weren't of much to concern if he was prepared.

Training was obviously the first priority.

Killing Danzo was ideally second, but realistically is would be years before he was strong enough.

He had the simple outline of saving his brother planned; get the Hokage declare him not a traitor so Danzo (Unfortunatly alive) couldn't have him killed, have Sakura treat Itachi's illness before is got too bad, and Itachi could then kill Danzo.

Then there was Obito, and family was still family.  Then there was Madara, who Sasuke decided _wasn't_ family...

(He decided he wasn't hypocritical enough to not blame Itachi for being manipulated into the massacre but still blame his uncle, nevermind how Sasuke was intimately familiar with how loss could drive you into an abyss.  Madara had no such excuses.)

Thinking about those two was like throwing water on a duck. He'd talk about it with Itachi, because he _would_ save Itachi, no matter what.

Not being able to take revenge on the ones besides Danzo responsible for his brother's misery was what irritated him the most. Naruto cared too much about the Third, and killing the elders would cause a mess for the entire team.

“Sasuke-kun...”

Sakura was holding something in her fist, a light blush on her cheeks. He mentally sighed.

“You've been finished with your food for a while now. You need to take your sleeping medicine.”

She held out her fist and opened it, still blushing, and he was tempted to wait for her to drop it on the food tray instead of taking it directly from her palm.

She mistook his failure to move for something else, and her face hardened slightly.

“Naruto and I will be taking shifts to watch during the night, and his 'guard' is going to stay around, in case you weren't able to understand earlier,” She thrust out her hand, and the pill would have landed in his lap if he hadn't caught it.  (It was a bit of a relief he could play off his attempt at teasing).

Of course they were going to stay there while he was defenseless. That was a given. The distinct lack of Naruto at the moment was curious though.

“Where'd the idiot go?” he asked while glancing around for water. Swallowing pills dry in combat was required, but he preferred a bit of liquid.

Sakura got up for a pitcher and glass that was stupidly placed a few feet away from his bed, saying offhandedly, “You need to place the pill under your tongue and let it dissolve, but it tastes terrible,” and answered his question while she poured, back to him, guilt lacing words that she tried to keep casual, “I told him to get his talk with the Hokage over sooner rather than later.”

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow whens she turned back. _What talk?_ He didn't really care about what little spat the two had gotten into, so long as they didn't let it fester between them (Which never happened).

“Ah, I guess you were too out of it, despite how loud he was,” she handed him the glass, “Naruto's shouting on the way here was about how he told us about his guest.”

That's what that had been about. Sasuke forced himself from grimacing at the sickly-sweet taste of the pill as it dissolved, and quickly gulped water when it was gone.

Sakura took the glass back, and maybe it was effect of a long day involving time-travel, but the worry and determination on her face made him want to...

“Sakura.”

She turned back to him, already a step away.

...He reached out with two fingers, not quite touching her forehead, before dropping them and murmuring, “See you tomorrow.”

Sleep overcame him.

 

* * *

 

Naruto had been planning to make the talk leisurely, but Kabuto waiting to snatch Sasuke away changed things to a hurried list.

He jumped from roof to roof, getting yelled at for being a monster (and knocking over cable antennas), but whatever. More important things.

First, Jiraiya should immediately come to the village because... Ah! He wanted to talk about how his parents were sealed in him! And how maybe could he talk to them multiple times instead of just once! And going to that island for Kurama! Maybe that was revealing too much?

And...he wanted to tell everything about Kabuto and Orochimaru's plans, but Sakura had been pretty adamant with her pinching that he should keep quiet.

Maybe he should just be quiet and wait for the old man to ask questions.

The secretary to the tower yelled at him when he ran past with a 'Hi!', but she was always in a bad mood. The chuunin that stood watch at the door just sighed when he didn't bother asking for permission to bang on it.

“Hokage-sama said he was expecting you...”

Naruto was not expecting Jiraiya.

“Eh?! Uh...!”

 _Don't know him,_ he's alive _, don't know him,_ he's alive _._

Naruto scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeve.

“I think a bug flew in my eye on the way here! So, old man Hokage, who's this other old guy?”

The Third lifted an eyebrow, and he had either never noticed or had forgotten how penetrating his gaze was. He had to push back another swell of emotions. He could be saved, too.

“Well, where to begin...” he took a long drag and puffed out a throwing-star shaped cloud, contemplating.

“You gave your ANBU escort quite the scare this morning, when you disappeared with Uchiha-kun and Haruno-kun.”

Naruto fidgeted. Introduce Jiraiya, already!

“Where exactly did you go off to?”

That's it? “Uh, I'm not exactly sure, some place between buildings in the Old District.”

“Not sure because you weren't aware of traveling?”

“What? No, not that, I just wasn't paying attention to where we were heading, and then we stopped.”

“Mmhm...”

Naruto did not like where this seemed to be heading.

“And do you know how your presence was hidden?”

“Sasuke did some seals, probably a clan thing.”

“And while you were traveling?”

“Uh...” the expectant looks were making him nervous.   _More_ nervous.

“Ah!” Naruto slammed his fist into the flat of his hand, “He did some seals, grabbed our hands, and it felt a little tingly?”

And now it looked like Sasuke was being a suspicious bastard. He knew those looks.

“Don't worry, though! Sasuke's just a paranoid bastard. _Really_ paranoid. He wanted to make sure that we won Kakashi-sensei's test, so he made sure no one overheard us planning!”

That seemed to be exactly the right thing to say, with the amount of tension that left the Third. Jiraiya just looked even more annoyed.

“The elite of Konoha lost some brats just out of their diapers?”

“We aren't brats! We're ninja!”

“Yeah, yeah...I'm gonna check the seal on the Kyuubi, just to make sure, _brat_. Maybe something more later.”

Jiraiya was reaching out his hand, and then going to leave, and...

“I'm not just some brat! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage, and you better remember me!”

“...Really? Show me what you've got later.”

Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto's stomach, and he could feel Kurama's anger and hatred swell up. The engulfing feelings...

“Seal's fine, you got worried and dragged me all the way here for nothin-,” Naruto grabbed his wrist before the old man could pull away completely.

“It's rude not to introduce yourself, old man!”

Jiraiya puffed up, shaking away his hand, and Naruto felt himself fill with warmth at the familiarity.

“You're speaking to Jiraiya, one of the great San-”

“Yeah! Okay, teach me how to control the Kyuubi's chakra! Like with a summoning contract with the toads!”

...Oops. Maybe he was getting a little too ahead of himself. He could hear Sakura mentally berating him.

Both the old guys looked at him so completely and utterly blankly that it felt like a deep, black pit in his stomach appeared.  But that went away in less that half a second, and their looks were mirrored on the other; that eyebrow raise of vaguely concerned contemplation.  Naruto never realized Jiraiya must have picked it up from the Third...

“Well,” the Third took a puff, “We were discussing how earlier you tried to access the chakra to help your teammate, but failed. That was one of the final possibilities.”

Both were looking at him so suspiciously now. _Argh_.

“Sakura-chan said it would help! That, uh, summons needed a lot of chakra, and you knew the toad boss and toads would suit me, and...stuff.”

“And this was when you evaded the ANBU this morning, and told your new teammates _forbidden knowledge_?”

“...Yeah?”

Old Man Hokage just sighed, _again_ , and Jiraiya was sizing him up.

Naruto could see was going to happen later in his head, clear as day.

“ _How did it go, Naruto-kun?”_

“ _Well, Sakura-chan, I now have a summoning contract with the toads again! I also made them_ even more _suspicious!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without feeling like she can properly participate in the team, Sakura's confidence goes out the window ):
> 
> Kakashi is even more in over his head than he thinks.
> 
> Sasuke...got pretty (super) mushy after wanting to be an asshole.
> 
> Naruto being nervous translates to him being super-hyper-active in my mind. And I had to go look up how Jiraiya first met Naruto, so, uh, yeah probably not the best characterization for him.
> 
> If you have any critiques, they're welcome~


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura wonders why Kabuto isn't trying to seduce small boys to the dark side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the first draft of this written a little more than two days after posting chapter 2. I'm still not perfectly happy with it, but it's good enough now for me to post it and just move this story along. I'm pretty sure I smoothed it all it, but apologies if the choppiness from all the editing shows and please point it out orz
> 
> Thank you for the comments and near-daily kudos that kept me from flipping a table and giving up on it!

“Sakura-kun, you really don't have to stay up on guard. The hospital is safe!”

Goddamn Kabuto. Exactly on time for his three hour check-in on Sasuke. Sakura kept her expression neutral as he walked in, ignoring the snoring Naruto, who was leaning on Sasuke's bed from his own chair. That he didn't wake with Kabuto so close... _No don't think about it._

_Why hasn't he made a move yet?_

Fatigue was dragging behind her eyes, through her brain; she had forgotten how much young kids ( _she_ ) needed sleep and couldn't shrug off only four hours or an all-nighter.

Kabuto finished checking Sasuke's vitals, completely unthreatening, and left with one more plead for a young child to get to sleep.

She wanted to bury head face in her hands, to close her eyes, to lay down next to Sasuke...it wasn't even a genjutsu meant to trick her, just...incompetence. Laxness. She knew the threat, but her body wasn't responding like it should. Being woken up at midnight for her shift and three hours passing with nothing but breathing, snoring, beeping, and the faint hospital noises coming through the door wasn't an excuse.

Sakura couldn't think through the fog. What Naruto did at the Hokage's...no use crying over spilled milk. But how to clean up the mess? How were they transported back? _Why_ were they transported back? And only their minds?

( _Don't think about their original minds, don't think about their original memories)_

Her long hair flopped over her shoulder when she leaned her head down, and the unfamiliar feeling of it, of what was supposed to be _her body_ , felt like a rope tightening around her neck. No, tightening even more than it already was.

Had something gone so terribly wrong that someone who had been hiding this jutsu all along finally felt the need to use it?

Sleep laboriously, but finally, overpowered her as she worried.

…

“Uh, Sakura-chan, how much blood do you need to make the ink?”

She planned on making the Strength of a Hundred Seal, just as she said yesterday, and had managed to get the most important part – blood replenishing pills. Just...not the tools to draw blood in a clean fashion. _Someone_ , who she distinctly got the impression was Kabuto, had started approaching and she barely had time to re-write the inventory for the pills.  
  
Her hunch that Naruto would lose his ANBU escort once he was supposedly in Kakashi's care was right; they'd (Apparently, damn it) been followed closely when they spent half an hour walking around town, but at least this one was like any other worker.  They were at the bridge at five 'til, and as soon as the next shift was supposed to be taken over, they were left alone.  So here they were, on the training grounds and praying Kakashi didn't decide to show up early-for-him.

So she was left with sterilizing a kunai and a rice pot, knicking her wrist, and letting Naruto watch as she drained her own blood. He was _supposed_ to be on lookout instead of staring at her after he finished making the hole and filling it with water. Sasuke...was probably mad at her for falling asleep when she was on watch herself, and she could barely look at him and how intensely he was observing their surroundings.

“...Sakura-chan?”

Barely a couple of ounces had come out, and he was already worrying. She popped the blood pill and made the slit bigger.

“Enough to fill the pot, so three litres. I'll be fine, Naruto. That's why I went through all the trouble for the pills, and I'll close the cut as soon as I have enough.”

Sakura stuck the fore-finger of her bleeding arm into the pooling blood, steadily infusing it with her chakra in a more permanent way while preventing it from coagulating.

“Sakura-chan!”

Ah, last time had been so much easier with Tsunade-shishou and proper equipment. She slapped the wound close with her free hand and began swirling the blood that the other was wrist-deep into, grinning as it turned black. At least this was going well. The next step would be...

She made the blood-ink slide cleanly off her hand, gulping slightly at the sensation of loosing a part of her body but still feeling it without physical connection. The disquieting feeling meant she had made the ink perfectly. Both of the boys had turned their backs, knowing what was coming.

Sakura looked back at the blood ink, scrutinizing it for flaws. It was fine, and she was just stalling. _Get it together._

She stripped off her her clothes as quickly as possible and jostled around in the lingerie store bag, removing and applying the pasties and the 'underwear' that didn't have any sides and stayed up from glue.

(Being a twelve-year-old buying them had probably been more nerve-wracking than stealing the blood pill. If Ino, or anyone she knew, saw her... But the small amount of modesty they afforded her to otherwise being naked in front of _Naruto and Sasuke_ made up for it.

Probably.)  
  
She stepped onto the water, holding the stupid rice pot. A few inches deep and just wide enough to accommodate the three of them standing.

“I'm ready, Sasuke-kun, activate the barrier. Naruto, the brushes.”

She had had both memorize their parts of the seal to her satisfaction earlier, Sasuke using the Sharingan on the sheet of paper and quickly handing it to Naruto with a slight flush, who laughed with discomfort at the diagram depicting a naked girl.

 _Much_ easier with Tsunade and Shizune. Sakura took a deep breath. No time to be embarrassed, they all had to get it right.

To keep her mental stability, she closed her eyes before she could see them turn around and began meditating, focusing on bringing bringing her chakra to her forehead, allowing the water's yin energy and her own affinity to it aid her.

They approached with soft but untempered noise, and either on purpose or serendipitously stepped onto the water at the same time. The awareness she had of her own blood being manipulated outside her body when they dipped the brushes in was as _strange_ as the first time. The brush strokes were unhesitating and in unison on either side of her body, beginning at her feet and exactly tracing her major chakra pathways.

When the two brushes finished their final outline of what would be the Strength of Hundred seal, the two boys stepped back onto the ground. Sakura upended the pot's remaining blood ink into small pool, and one of them, Naruto from the feel, took the empty vessel from her. She formed the hare with her hands, concentrating on making the base of her seal solid, absorbing all the blood from the water and then beginning on her body.

Sasuke jerked his body without warning.

“Someone triggered the alarm at the edge of the Field.”

It was suddenly much harder to concentrate.

“Who is it?!"  _Naruto, calm down!_

“I don't know!”

Loosing concentration only slowed down the process. Sakura took a steadying breath; she couldn't hurry, she couldn't talk - she had to do it _right_.

“Second alarm.”

These were not even close to the ideal conditions to be doing this!

“Third, they're at the memorial stone.”

A part of her mind that wasn't concentrating on the meditation waited for Sasuke to announce the fourth had been passed. The fifth and final was a one-hundred yard radius around them.

He didn't say anything.

“...Maybe it's Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto volunteered.

Hopefully. Sakura forced her entire mind back into meditation.

Nothing else happened before she opened her eyes and stepped onto land, finished. They both tensed when her foot rustled the grass and she saw the backs of their necks turn pink.

Now was the time to allow herself to feel embarrassed. She felt her face heat up and knew it was beet-red. Sakura couldn't get her clothes back on quick enough, ripping off the stupid pasties and fake underwear and swearing at the sting of pain.

Sasuke turned when she cleared her throat, although Naruto took a second longer, rubbing the back of his head and laughing nervously before looking at her. And frowning.

Of course he was frowning. Of course something went wrong. She looked at Sasuke, who had his head titled in contemplation, “It's shaped differently.”

What?

“What?”

“Doesn't it take a few years to get the forehead-thing?” Naruto added.

_What?_

 

* * *

 

Kakashi was there in the early morning to visit the memorial stone. Obviously.  It was part of what he tried to make a daily routine of.

But why were the _kids_ there? Surely they hadn't missed the note he left saying to meeting point would be the bridge and the reminder to _be there at seven_?  Kakakshi hadn't forgotten how flippantly they ignored his meeting time instructions yesterday.

He was hiding his presence out of habit during this private time, but he was glad he noticed them before he could get in what was Naruto's 'presumed ANBU sensor range'. Which he very much hoped was correct intel if his current activity was going to work out.

They were settled down in the forested area, which gave him a little trouble finding some place with a clear view thirty yards away, but they seemed to be more taking shelter from the drizzle that had started a bit ago than trying to hide.

And so, he listened.

And listened harder.

And, even though he should be able to hear _something_ , he used a long-distance listening technique.

Nothing.

He hadn't seen any of them use hand signs, nevermind set up a barrier...

Genjutsu? Kakashi's instincts were finally saying something, from the way the sharingan was itching. He lifted the eyepatch, intent on either dispelling the illusion or reading their lips.

Neither happened besides _pain_.

Looking at their mouths was...sickening. Distorted even as Sakura hit Naruto.  
  
Kakashi was still trying to get over the terrible pain in Obito's eye and the churning in his stomach when, as if speakers were turned on, Naruto pointed directly in his direction and said, “Kakashi-sensei is over there. Why don't we just ask?”

What was there to be suspicious of? They were just kids.

Correct intel on Naruto his ass.

 

* * *

 

Sasuke jerked his head as soon as the idiot said it. Of course he wouldn't bother saying something about Kakashi spying on them (And avoiding triggering his last two alarms...).

Sakura immediately starting signing 'No, don't, no, don't' on repeat and he suddenly felt Kakashi's presence stupidly close. Their sensei strolled into the clearing, palm pressed against the Sharingan. Sakura meekly turned to to face him when he stopped a couple of paces away from their little circle.

He met her eyes, and she froze in fear.

Kakashi's normal eye looked straight into Sasuke's after he was done with Sakura.

_We're going to have to leave the village much sooner than I thought._

“I have half a mind to kill you all.”

The hairs on his arms started to stand from the rise of the Kyuubi's charka, and Sakura's hand shot over to grab Naruto's. He didn't do anything; if they were going to survive Kakashi they'd need the nine-tails' power.

“The other half is telling me you're too incompetent to be spies and wondering what you want to ask me.”

Sasuke bristled at the insult, but knew the chance Kakashi was giving them. Kakashi's need to see the best in people and force a chance to 'make the right descision' on them was for once not completely unneeded. He glanced at Sakura, the most diplomatic of them, who was crushing Naruto's hand, face white. Naruto's eye were red slits, nails pointed, and he was _growling_.

It was up to him then.

“Sakura's-”

“I was wondering what you knew about space-time jutsu, sensei?”

Skip the might-have-failed seal and go straight to that? He lifted an eyebrow at Sakura but was ignored as she stared their sensei down, still trembling, still drained of color.

Kakashi slowly blinked and...

Turned his back to them and threw up?

Naruto had enough to control to give them all voice; “What the fuck?” Throaty and growly, but still Naruto.

“I heard that.”

Kakashi wiped his mouth and turned back to them, never apparently moving his mask even with the pile of vomit behind him.

“What I didn't hear was what Sakura said.”

Sasuke scowled. What was he playing at? He looked at his teammates. Sakura shrugged hopelessly and Naruto was scowling in confusion, his whiskers slightly less pronounced.

_His control over the Kyuubi..._

“Would you repeat that, rookie?”

“Uh...what's going on-?”

“Now.”

She did, setting her mouth and trembling less through sheer willpower as Kakashi stared at her stonily. He turned to Sasuke, moving the hand that was pressing against his covered eye to lift his eyepatch and reveal the Sharingan.

“Now you, exactly as she said.”

_What the hell is going on?_

When he did, the borrowed eye started _bleeding_. He felt unwelcome memories start to come to the surface and squashed them. They wouldn't happen.

Kakashi turned to Naruto, who was looking more alarmed than need be. _It was just bleeding._

“Sensei, are you alright?!”

“I will be. Now you, Naruto.”

Naruto hesitated, but did so when Kakashi slightly narrowed his eyes. Sasuke saw more blood begin to come out before he lowered the eyepatch.

“Kakashi-sensei, can you not...understand us?”

“Not a word.”

That explained Kakashi's intensity; only enemies would mask communications.  Sasuke quickly lifted his shirt over his head, mind racing, wondering why they hadn't done this in the first place.

“Why the hell are you stripping?!”

“Seals, think about it. You too, idiot.”

He glanced at Kakashi, who nodded that he had heard that, and Sakura, who was biting her lip and tapping her chin in thought. She didn't need to be checked, at least. For the most part.

Sasuke tipped his head, exposing where the cursed seal would (wouldn't) be. Naruto looked and also moved to check his back before shaking his head.  He commented as he took off his own shirt, “The old pervert checked me over yesterday, remember? What's the point?”

Kakashi didn't have the stoney expression any more, they had passed his 'second-chance to redeem' with flying colors apparently, and was now a type of blank Sasuke associated with 'I am concerned and confused'.

“Bastard, stick out your tongue.”

He did, and of course Naruto had to grab on it and _yank_. Sasuke barely resisted the urge to punch him.

“S'not there. Me?” Naruto did the same to himself, grimacing at the self-inflicted pain like an idiot.

“Nothing.”

Both Sakura and Kakashi were studying them.

“Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to ask you something else, okay?”

Why did Sakura need to prod at this? They needed to check themselves, get Kakashi off their scent, and leave the village as fast as possible. Having him as an ally would have been the best scenario, but not _needed_. Someone vacillating on killing you wasn't an ally to rely on.

“If-if, it does...whatever, again. Please don't kill us.”

Their sensei lifted an eyebrow and nodded.

“Can you see what's on my forehead?”

“...Yes? If you're trying to imitate Tsunade-hime, you have the shape wrong.”

“Pants,” she said, and it took half a second for the rest of them to figure out she was addressing her teammates. (Kakashi's eye-expression was mildly entertaining, given the situation).

“Sakura-chan, turn around!”

She had already done so, tapping her chin and probably biting her lip, but Naruto seemed to have decided to try desperately start de-escalating the tension with Kakashi no longer (apparently) seriously thinking about killing them.

“Wait.”

He and his teammates froze. Kakashi was frowning at Sakura.

“Did you...actually attempt to do the Strength of a Hundred Seal _on your own?_ ”

Great, now he was angry at them not for being suspicious, but for being idiots.

“I know exactly what I was doing! And Naruto and Sasuke were helping!”

“And exactly how do you think you know what you're doing?!”

Sakura shifted slightly, then frowned and squared her shoulders, “Because, I-”

“No.”

“No?” Naruto echoed, in the middle of taking Sakura's command to the next level by taking off his boxers.

Sasuke decided that the current version of stoney eye was Kakashi trying not to vomit - from whatever was going on with not being able to understand them, possibly exacerbated by Naruto being naked.

“What were you going to say?” Sasuke asked, mainly out of curiosity.

“The truth.”

Kakashi added to the pile of vomit.

 

* * *

 

Even with Kakashi-sensei barfing up everything, Naruto still hadn't spotted his face.

 _Damn_.

Sakura politely turned away from Kakashi barfing up his guts, looked at him, blushed and _aw yeah she was finally noticing him_.

Sasuke jabbed him in the side when he began to preen.

Oh.

Right.

Naked.

He felt himself flush the same as Sakura and rushed to put his pants back on.

“So, um. I guess we can't talk about it around sensei.”

“Whatever 'it' is,” Kakashi-sensei was facing them again, mask in place, completely clean. He eyed all of them for the umpteenth time in ten minutes.

“So you think you've been sealed?”  
  
He nodded firmly, because that's what _they_ thought, but Sakura hesitated and Sasuke was glaring daggers at Kakashi.

“Where? When?”

“...Don't all seals show up somewhere?” Sakura ventured.  She looked at him and the bastard. “You two didn't notice anything back when you were helping _as instructed_?”

Kakashi sighed and looked at the sky. He muttered something that Naruto was only barely able to pick up the end of; “...kids seeing her naked”.

The intense glare from Sakura he could even  _feel_ kept Naruto from opening his mouth.

Kakashi continued, “We'll need to track down Tsunade-hime so she can examine whatever the hell you brats did, in case that has something to do with this. Many seals only appear when active, and a seal that makes the Sharingan react so negatively might be able to be hidden at all times. Jiraiya-sama would probably not notice it unless he knew to look for it. Otherwise, “ he looked at them again, “I repeat: where and when do you suppose it happened?”

“Sakura fell asleep while on watch last night,” Sasuke said bluntly, scowling in thought. Naruto was torn between punching his stupid face and comforting Sakura as she sagged in guilt.

But their sensei rolled his visible eye, “You had an ANBU watching the whole time. If someone powerful enough to trick an ANBU did it, she's hardly at fault.”

As he said that, Kakashi seemed to have something dawn on him and cut his eyes to Sasuke, who was frowning. Probably at being told off, the bastard.

“It wasn't Itachi,” his teammate said firmly when their eyes met.

“Oh? And I suppose a brat like you knows exactly what's going on a mass-murder's head.”

Sasuke bristled, “I knew because-” he cut himself off, scowling, when Kakashi's lifted eyebrow went down and did the subtle shift to 'nauseous'.

“I know because it isn't his style. This had no way of making me stronger.”

“I suppose you're going to blame that _genin nurse-in-training_ you were guarding against now?

“Yeah! You can't trust him, he's a slimy traitor working for Orochimaru!”

The were all looking at him. Sakura hesitantly spoke out after a beat, “Did you understand that, sensei?”

Kakashi was looking at him in contemplation and queasiness. Naruto glared back in defiance.

“No. I wouldn't have believed whatever paranoia you brats had if I had heard, but if your reason falls under...'It', then there's at least something to look into, if only to better identify It.”

Kakashi-sensei sighed and turned around. At least he was taking the Kabuto Threat seriously now. Kinda.

“Jiraiya-sama confirmed Naruto was himself yesterday, and given that you didn't try to escape or actually attack me...,” he glanced over his shoulder Naruto.

 _Oops. No harm done?_ Naruto smiled back nervously.

“You've given me enough doubt to not kill you. I'll discuss all this with the Hokage. Don't leave the village or that doubt will disappear.”

He walked a couple of steps before turning again, grinning this time, “You still have to catch Tora-chan.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura gets a look at 'What'-inducing seal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Two years later...)

Sakura scowled at the space their sensei had been when he had flash-stepped away, after merging threatening their lives with threatening them with Tora. A note was left behind where he stood, but a petty part of her decided to ignore it in favor of going through her pouch for a mirror to figure out exactly how 'odd' the mark was. It took a few moments; she almost never used it for the traps it was meant for, so it had floated to the bottom.

“Give me a minute to check the seal,” she called to the boys.

 _'Do I_ want _to see?'_

_'It's not like you'll be able to put it off for more than a couple of hours.'_

(The stress was getting to her, talking to herself again...)

She still scrunched her eyes closed when she brought the mirror up to level and stole a couple of deep breaths.

…

It...could have been worse. It was in the roughly right area. And roughly the same size.

A bit lower than the Strength of One Hundred seal should be. A black, upside down teardrop.

Sakura prodded at it with a finger.

_'You haven't even done the worst part. Get it over with!'_

Had she put a ticking time bomb on herself? Permanently scarred her chakra pathways?

_'Grow some tits and do it! You're better than this!'_

Right. Fear would either do nothing or have a negative impact.

Sakura closed her eyes, focusing on the ball of light that was her center. She followed it up a pathway she'd used nearly every hour of the day for the past two and a half years. At the end, she found what she was looking for and something she wasn't.

She tentatively prodded at the second mental room the seal created, finding...she had no idea what it was. Energy of some sort. Not her chakra.

She willed a door to it. Should she open it? It could kill-

_'No. Fear.'_

She cracked the door open (Lack of fear didn't mean lack of a healthy amount of self-preservation).

Naruto. (Pulsing with blood)

Sasuke. (Pulsing)

Two squirrels. (Pulsing)

The oaks. (Pulsing)

The soil. (Pulsing)

Water creeping beneath it. (Pulsing)

Rocks. (Pul-)

“Sakura!”

Her back hit the earth, forcing the breathe out of her lungs.

“What were you doing?!”

Naruto stood over her, panting, and she could feel the fear radiating off of him. Sasuke was beside him, with shock and worry that barely showed on his face.

Their emotions were _tangible_. Like breathing in a heady incense an inch away from the stick.

“I was-”

She swallowed. It felt like wisps of her were outside her body, almost like thick smoke. She sucked in a deep breathe, and the smoke came back (mostly).

“I was checking the seal.”

She locked eyes with Naruto, continuing her deep, grounding breaths, trying to pull all the smoke inside her skin and not the emotions wafting off the two boys, waiting for him to say what had happened.

He fell to his knees and pulled her up into a tight a hug that did not help her deep breathing.

“You were...it was like you were disappearing.”

Sasuke knelt next to them, shoving Naruto's shoulder to get to him let go. She saw _'Give her_ space' in his red eyes, not that Naruto could see. For a moment, the blond didn't move, but eventually leaned back, still clutching her upper arms. A few more breathes, and she felt like herself again. Mostly.

Sasuke had his sharingan activated. She could still smell-feel his tension, but it wasn't as overwhelming to her mind as before.

“Naruto noticed something first. You didn't respond to your name or shaking. You were just beginning to change form when you hit the ground.”

Oh.

Oh boy.

“The mark has spread.”

Great.

What an amazing morning.

_'Am I in shock?'_

_'Probably.'_

_'”No fear” my ass. It's a healthy survival instinct.'_

'You needed to do it. One step closer.' Her head was beginning to ring.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, willing the blackness of fainting (of being weak _again_ ) away, then forced them open.

The blond still hadn't elaborated on 'disappearing'.

“Naruto?”

“It was like...” he breathed out, and Sakura couldn't smell-feel their emotions anymore.

“Nature energy. Senjutsu. You were releasing it with _yourself._ But you haven't been trained by a sage and that's not what the seal is even for, right?”

No. She hadn't been good enough for Lady Katsuya to even offer training. Or maybe there wasn't even such a thing as a slug sage, she'd never asked.

Sasuke was still. Stiller. Had he breathed in the past few seconds?

“Sasuke-kun...?”

“It's a Cursed Seal.”

 

* * *

 

 

The damn brats would send him to an early grave of heart failure. Either they would continue to scare him to death for what would end up as no reason or he would give out from the strain of having to kill twelve-year-olds.

He hopped in through the window of the Hokage's office, and knew the ANBU were glaring at him for breaking protocol.

It kept them on their toes.

“Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama wouldn't happen to still be in the village?”

Sarutobi lifted an eyebrow, hand continuing to work on the papers in front of him.

“Haruno put a seal on herself. A mimicry of Tsunade-hime's.”

The elder put down his pen, and only a tired puff of his pipe gave away his emotions.

"They also suspect they've had a seal placed on each of them.  I was...unable to understand a certain subject no matter how they tried to convey it."

“He should have left yesterday, but he's probably...resting,” after another exhale, completely unconcerned.

'Resting'. Kakashi sighed, feeling a year of his life go out with the breath. Where in the village was there a bathhouse the allowed the sannin within a hundred feet?

“...Did you leave them alone, Kakashi?”

He mentally cursed.

_'I told them I was not cut out for this.'_

 

* * *

 

“ _What?!_ Of course it isn't!”

Sasuke grit his teeth.

“For once, Naruto, could you live in reality-”

“You don't understand!” The idiot rubbed his face in aggravation, which only set Sasuke off more. _Why is that idiot the one getting irritated?!_

“Cursed seals...I know I only around when it was activated a couple of times, but the feeling you get from one was completely different than that!”

“A _'feeling'_?! You think your _'feeling'_ knows better than I do about them?!”

They both grabbed each other's collars at the same time, snarling. Sasuke wanted to rip into him, fight him, show him who was _really_ right.

“This is Sakura-chan we're-”

“ **I SAID CALM DOWN**!”

A tiny hand shoved each of them rolling backwards several yards, cloth from the other's shirt still gripped in their hands.

(Something caught in his belly at the feeling of her strength.)

“Do you two ever listen to me when you're glaring at each other?!”

He wasn't stupid enough to realize that Sakura had been talking before she got physical, and he hadn't heard a word of it. He had been angry, and the only way he knew how to deal with anger at that moment was to take it out on Naruto. Sakura had-

Sasuke cut his eyes away from her. _Not in shame._

“Sakura-ch-”

The ground trembled and cracked when she stomped her foot, “ _Not another word until you hear what I have to say!_ ”

(His stomach tightened more as his eyes followed her foot.)

Sasuke couldn't tell if her fury was coming from the seal or from his teammate finally loosing her temper on both of them at once.

Neither he nor Naruto stood up.

“As I was trying say,” she took a deep breath that obviously wasn't a calming one, glared into the distance, and held up a hand, “One,” a finger went up, “The way Orochimaru applied the cursed seal to Sasuke was nothing like how we applied this.”

He distinctly noticed the lack of '-kun'.

“I can assume he did all the others similarly?” she looked at him with her still furious eyes. Sasuke nodded, keeping silent.

“Two,” another finger went up, “I displayed none of the symptoms that Sasuke did after the initial marking – pain, fever, fainting...Also the same for others?”

He gave another nod, beginning to weigh what she was saying with his own arguments.

“Three,” she wagged her hand in both their directions, “I am displaying no signs of aggression.”

Naruto opened his mouth, and the glare sent his way shut it.

“ _Unwarranted_ aggression. I was fine until you two started acting the same age as your bodies.”

Saying this, Sasuke could see a thought occur to her before she even moved her hand to her chin, her face softening into a frown of thought. She muttered something under her breath. Sasuke decided the best course of action was to let Naruto break their silence, in case she wasn't done.

“...What did you say, Sakura-chan?”

She gave an aggravated growl and Naruto immediately covered his mouth with both hands, as if that would do anything to help. But their teammate only ran a hand through her bangs and let out a world-weary sigh.

“Hormones. Puberty. You are going through the beginning of it again. Be aware of how logical your emotional response to something is before you act on them.”

He didn't know if it was meant to be heard, but he did make out her adding, “Not that you two did last time. Or even recently.”

Sasuke felt the skin stretching over his knuckles as he balled them into fists on the grass, glaring down. One part of him wanted to yell at her that it was logical, of course it was logical for him to be angry she could have died like everyone else, to try to make Naruto see reason for once. Another said that this was the very reason that bonds were a weakness, that he should have controlled himself.

He stayed silent, knuckles white.

 

* * *

 

What the hell was the bastard's problem? Were puberty hormones really that bad? Then again, it would explain so much about their first time as genin. Or had he gotten that stupid temper that broke the 'I'm an Uchiha and I don't show emotions' stick-up-the-butt after the seal?

The other boy's hand finally released their grasp on the grass and he stood up, eyes emotionless

“Now you need to listen to my reasons, Sakura,” he said flatly.

Ah, there was the butt-stick.

“For one, you had begun physically transforming, as you know is usual for the curse.”

Sakura inclined her head in assent.

“For t-”

Oh shit.

“ _For two_ , we should get going to find Tora! _Right now_ ,” Naruto interrupted. Damn, Kakashi came up fast.

“How enthusiastic, Naruto. If only you had been this enthusiastic when I first told you to get going.”

Sakura cut her eyes to Sasuke; their discussion obviously wasn't over, and Naruto had numbers to list too!

When he turned around to look, it was too late to try for a distraction. Their teacher was already looking at her with a raised brow.

“I see you have done something else.”

The pink-haired girl raised a hand to delicately cover her forehead, laughing nervously.

“It-it wasn't on purpose,” she said, not able to look Kakashi in the eye.

“Oh, that makes it better,” he replied cheerfully, without an ounce of traceable sarcasm.

Naruto shared a wince with Sakura.

“Luckily for you guys, a new mission,” he continued breezily, tossing out comm devices to them, “Instead of finding Tora, we're to find an elder man. Long, bushy white hair, red over coat, wart on his nose-”  
  
“Ero-sannin?!” Naruto let out a cheer. He had botched the first meeting, he didn't know he would get a second chance so soon!

“...Jiraiya-sama, yes. Last known location...” Kakashi scratched his mask with a finger, “Near a bathouse. Maybe elsewhere. You three will be checking out those, while I'll look elsewhere.”

“Heeh, Kaka-sensei is going to be checking out the brothels!” he crowed; Sakura let out a choked 'Naruto!'.

Sasuke continued to stay silent and expressionless. Well, good. Let him keep his mouth shut. They'd find Jiraiya, and he'd know that it wasn't a cursed seal.

Case closed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...*Meekly waves from around a corner* Two years later, several drafts, and I decided to turn this story into freeform because ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> But it's out. *Two years* of birthing pains and I just want to move on from this one. Dang. Chapter. Sooo many iterations. And radical plot changes. And edits of previous chapters that I didn't know until last month you guys got an update for each time if you're subscribed (I'm so sorry). I could barely edit this final draft.
> 
> More info on Sakura's insta-seal (Your theory on what it is? You can guess because *I actually know*), shortest Kakashi bit yet, Sasuke lol (His feelings about Sakura's strength are exactly what you think they are), and Naruto...Naruto's voice was even less strong than usual.
> 
> Also, I'm 90% sure Hiruzen's pipe is full of really strong weed.
> 
> "This baby was entrusted to me by my dead successor? He'll be fine if I give him an apartment."  
> "Danzo tried to assassinate me? That's too bad. I still value his opinion though, keep him on the council."  
> "You guys want to either murder a clan or brainwash them to prevent civil war? No in between? I guess it will work out."
> 
> Fun fact: These chapters are saved as "Not Another Time Travel" on my computer. Have been from the start, and the pish-posh title only came about when I was posting it and decided that title wasn't going to help reel in readers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sakura contemplates her emotions and sanity.
> 
> (Warning: panic/PTSD attack)

Sakura surreptitiously glanced at her mirror to see what Sasuke had meant when he said the mark had 'spread'; Kakashi's reaction to her hadn't been... too bad. It probably wasn't much.

Another teardrop, point next to the first and up flush against with at a 45-degree angle. There was something else she couldn't quite put her finger on, but Kakashi was already walking off with the clear expectation that they'd follow like little ducklings. Subordinates? Sakura had no clue which one was a more accurate description; it could be both with their sensei.

She sighed and decided to waddle after him and Naruto, who looked like he was trying keep himself from running circles around Kakashi in excitement. The pissing match between him and Sasuke seemed to have completely been put aside in the wake of finding Jiraiya. Sakura couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips.

Sasuke shifted behind her and the grin dropped. She thought for a moment he wouldn't follow, but he noiselessly caught up to her.

Not turning her head, she peered through her bangs at him. The boy's affect was still flat, but his eyes were glued on... Kakashi and Naruto were nearly shoulder to shoulder, but if she had to guess, Sasuke was looking at Naruto. It was always Naruto.

The radio collar itched at her neck. She fiddled with it in the silence.

Her memories were still...off. Sasuke had been different from the last time she distinctly remembered meeting him – in the Land of Grass, going off of Sasori's tip. His eyes had been so cold...

The next meeting was foggier; she was determined to kill him because it was her responsibility. She had felt fear for her life when she looked into his crazed eyes.

Her final one felt more like an impression left by a dream than a memory; surprise, warmth, comfort, far-off heartache...

Who was the Sasuke standing next to her right now? Sakura had been moving the past twenty-eight hours off of that final memory, but the coldness in his eyes after she had pointed out why the mark probably (hopefully) wasn't a cursed seal...

_Looking down at them. Drawing his sword too easily to kill a motionless Naruto._

She clutched her hand over her heart. Why was she going off one memory that was only impressions, instead of the two that were clearer?

Because her love for him was that broken? _She_ was that broken?

Sakura looked at Naruto's grinning face, and knew how she was supposed to see him, her hero. She was supposed to feel the heart-pounding flush she felt for Sasuke.

Why were people so quick to dismiss the soothing warmth she felt instead?

Naruto let out a sharp cackle of glee.

Her fist clutched harder at her shirt. Her heart-rate was spiking in a way that only made her feel cold...

Sasuke shifted slightly beside her.

The hairs on her arm stood on end, his arm half a breath away, close enough to shift the tips, to feel his warmth, but not enough to actually touch.

Sakura glanced at him again, letting her head move slightly this time. His face was still flat, but the coldness, the unfeeling, the... _lacking_ was gone. Their Sasuke was back.

What had caused him to close up so thoroughly? What had caused him to open back up, Naruto's laugh or worry over her?

(When would he disappear like that again? When would he disappear completely again?)

The black-haired boy caught her eye and jerked his head towards the two in front of them.

They were only a couple steps away, Kakashi looking at them with a raised brow. Naruto's fond smile was combined with sadness in a way she didn't know what to make of. Had he seen how pathetic she must have looked?

They stood on the line the separated the park/training ground area and the village proper.

“Are you two ready to start, or do you need more time to prepare for this grueling mission?”

Sakura flushed.

' _Goddamn, Kakashi-sensei is not pulling any punches. We haven't helped that bad first impression at all._ '

She knew Sasuke wouldn't deign to answer, no matter what his mood was, so that left her.

“Sorry, Sensei,” she bowed her head briefly, because a bit of groveling wouldn't hurt. “I was wondering why we were checking bathouses and...er...”

“You mean you were wondering why a legendary Sannin would be found in such places?” Kakashi's eye squinted in faint amusement. Sakura shrugged, not meeting his eye, letting the blush that naturally crept up help with her act.

He closed his eye, bringing a hand up to his chain and nodding sagely as he said, “The older the Shinobi, the more eccentricities they have.”

' _Like your public porn._ '

She kept that thought to herself, both to keep up the 'embarrassed maiden' act and because she was pretty sure he wasn't buying it anyway. No need to push if he had already chosen to ignore the small lie. There was also a niggling feeling he had just said something 'underneath the underneath', but the man was already walking briskly forward and

“The Yunokawa Onsen has recently changed owners and gone under renovation.”

' _Give me a moment to think if you're going to play that game, **damnit**!_ '

“We're heading there first, and if he isn't there one of you - hmm, I guess Sasuke-kun,” Kakashi's blasé attitude was managing to raise the hackles of both the boys, “Will stay behind to monitor it. The other two,” He flapped the hand not holding his book in the general direction of between Naruto and Sakura, “Will follow a list of bathhouses to inquire at while I do my own reconnaissance.”

“Ah!” He said in fake alarm, patting the pockets of his flack vest worriedly, then pulling out three pieces of paper from his sleeve.

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch, and couldn't begrudge Naruto's deep, close-eyed scowl and Sasuke's downturn of his lips that was not-so-faint. She was rising to the bait too now.

“For Naruto-kun,” he held out the paper for the blond to snatch away, “The list of bathhouses. For you two-,” he held the other two papers, and Sakura took it as gracefully as she could. Sasuke just sneered and didn't make a move to take his.

Kakashi sighed in exaggerated disappointment and pulled the paper away. Sakura felt a tick in her forehead and reminded herself, ' _He's our senior and teacher, we're on probation with him, no punching._ '

…

' _I said_ , no punching.'

Her fist loosened.

“If you'll look at Sakura-kun's paper then, you _cute little genin_ , there's a photo of the target for you two.”

Jiraiya was winking winsomely at the photographer with a grin, holding a hand in a peace sign. Sakura took a deep breath and studied it a bit more closely for appearances, then carefully folded it into her pouch.

“We understand the mission assignments, Sensei. Lead the way.”

The Yunokawa Onsen was nearer to the edge of the village than the center, in the rich part, and a long walk since they weren't using the rooftops. That left her to stew in her irritation.

The part of her that wasn't coping well with the whole 'time travel' business (If that's what it is, and the seal going wrong wasn't helping her stress) was getting angrier and angrier that he wasn't their Kakashi-sensei. He had his same past twenty-eight years or however old his was right now, but didn't remember, no, _hasn't_ been through anything with them. He was purposefully irritating, trying to get under their skin - everything he had been before the mission to Wave, their first real activity as ninja, only even more so. He _is_ but he _wasn't_.

She couldn't talk about the details of the seal with him. She couldn't talk about the possibilities of what was going on.

Sakura knew her thoughts were spiraling.

He wasn't the negligent teacher she trusted anyways as a leader to have their backs.

(Except he would become that if anything happened now. That made it worse.)

He was watching their every move, not out of care or worry, but because they're suspicious. In a moment she knew was inspired by mean-spirited pettiness that was barely justifiable with testing the extent of what the communication problem was, she caught his eye, leapt back several feet, covered her mouth, and pressed her finger on the comm and murmured, “We're your students from the future.”

There was immediate silence; of course it hadn't worked.

But then...

“That's a very odd joke, Sakura-kun.”

'There are rules to follow.'

Her ears were ringing and her vision was fading.

 

* * *

 

 

Revenge for giving him heart problems was so, so sweet. It was practically an obligation since he had accepted them as his, anyway. A way of expressing his worry.

Sasuke was glowering and probably planned to try to overpower him in the next spar. Naruto was not-so-subtly hiding a wicked grin that meant he would have to keep an eye for...glitterbombs or whatever the brat was plotting. Sakura was stiff and angry, but he probably didn't need to expect anything more than smiles that showed too many teeth.

When she caught his eye, he began to rethink his evaluation of her probably retaliation.

When she jumped back back several feet (Using chakra, an ability she supposedly didn't know yet), he got the buzzing feeling again and _she was going to make him barf in the middle of the street_.

He leapt to a rooftop with a water tower to hide behind, but he heard it at he was mid-air.

“We're your students from the future.”

He landed, and the disgusting ringing was still there, but he heard it. Kakashi sighed, shoulders slumping; he had been faked out by a genin. They were going to make full use of whatever the hell was going on for their amusement and his torture now, he knew it.

“That's a very odd joke, Sakura-kun.”

There was no reply over the comm, but Naruto's yell of fear had Kakashi back on the ground and-

 _'What the hell have I gotten myself into._ '

Sakura was on the ground, forehead pressed against he street and the skin of her arms and the visible part of her neck was turning black, gray, green, scaley, like bark, like flames, like petals, hair turning white to blood red to sunset to ink blue.

' _She was a normal civilian girl to let me have one less small child to worry about exploding_.'

She was completely silent.

“Sakura-chan! _Sakura-chan_!”

They were so close to the bath house, rich civilians gawking. Kakashi frantically flared his chakra, praying Jiraiya was where he thought he would be. He felt a flare in response, sagged in relief, and shoved two boys out of the way, moving Sakura from her fetal position to the recovery in seconds.

The feel of the skin of her arms turning from bark to compacted sand was not something he would forget soon.

Kakashi looked at the marks on her brow, and where there had once been one, then two, there were now three black petals, even now morphing from a basic shape to elegant lines in some mockery of what court ladies would paint on themselves.

Jiraiya landed next to him in a swirl of dust and hair.

“Leave the area!” He barked to those who weren't already walking away from a potentially violent scene.

( _Some civilians had no self-preservation instincts_ )

“You two!” Kakashi had barely noticed Naruto and Sasuke had moved from where he shoved them away to Sakura's other side. They weren't important right now.

“Leave!” the Sannin said, the authority and power he had coming out.

Sasuke was the one who snarled back, “Like hell!”

He grabbed Naruto, who was silent with a look Kakashi did not have time to decode, by the wrist and lunged to touch their female teammate. They (Sasuke?) managed to knock her on her back and _did they not know what a recovery position was_ before he and Jiraiya shoved them bodily away.

And then Sakura made the first noise she had since she had said anything, groaning, her skin and hair turning back to normal.

 _'They are going to pay for my heart replacement surgery._ '

 

* * *

 

 

Naruto's clone appeared just as Sakura began titling forward, racing off to an alleyway, the real one jumping to stop her fall but only able to slow her descent to the ground instead of catching her.

“Sakura-chan! _Sakura-chan_!”

Her upper body was changing color and texture.

Sasuke could only feel ice-cold dread.

Itachi, stumbling toward him, bloody, with a smile.

Someone – Kakashi – tried to shove them away form her, only succeeding in moving him to her other side. He couldn't leave her.

 _She_ couldn't leave _him_.

The possibility of death after the application of a Cursed Seal of Heaven was ninety percent.

He looked at Naruto.

(Naruto could fill in the holes of their plan of attack, make it perfect.)

Sasuke barely registered the toad sage arriving, ignored his yell for evacuation. Then he yelled for them to leave.

 _Them_.

Mother and Father, laying together in their own blood.

Sasuke knew Naruto wasn't ready yet, but someone more powerful than them was going to try to separate the two from Sakura. He grabbed Naruto's wrist, _he'd better be ready_ , shoving the other boy's hand at Sakura because

he couldn't loose her too

and he saw Naruto grab at her shoulder before they were shoved away.

Sasuke was choking on death. He was a small child, wandering around the streets looking at gutted corpses and his crying brother. He was helpless and could do nothing.

Auntie, who made Itachi's favorite dango (Next to their mother's), had her throat slashed in a bloody grin, the tray of food she always went around distributing clattered a few feet away from the gate of their yard.

His brother was crying and his parents were dead. His everything was gone.

He was helpless and could do nothing.

Something warm pressed to his side, then all around him.

“ _Breathe_ ,” The no longer bloody moon whispered, “ _Breathe, bastard. She's fine now._ She's fine now.”

“Breathe,” Naruto commanded softly next to his head, embrace full and firm. “She's fine now. Breathe.”

 

* * *

 

 

Naruto dispelled the clone that was meditating when Sasuke grabbed his wrist. He let the small amount of natural energy he had gathered burst into her, terrified it wouldn't be enough. Jiraiya shoved them away, but it worked, it worked and he grinned at the bastard.

The bastard, Sasuke, who was now stone-still, breathing shallow and fast, eyes toward the ground but not looking.

“ _You can't do anything right, can you?_ ” Kurama cackled at him.

 _“Just give up a-_ ”

“No,” he was ankle-deep in water, Kurama pressing against the gate.

“We can all do this together. Either help or shut up.”

Kakashi and Jiraiya were hovering over a normal-looking Sakura. He could trust her with them, but no one was paying attention to Sasuke too shallow and too fast breathing. Naruto vaguely knew what was happening to Sasuke, but what should _he_ do? The blond leaned into Sasuke.

What would Iruka-sensei do if Sasuke was Naruto?

He grabbed the bastard in a hug he knew he would be shoved out of later, saying the first thing that came to mind because his face was turning tomato-red and he needed to, “ _Breathe._ ”

He was scared for Sakura so, “Breathe. She's fine now. She's fine now.”

Naruto kept repeating those two phrases, praying this was what you were supposed to do and it seemed to be working because Sasuke's breathing was becoming more normal.

“Sakura, stay laying down.”

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Kakashi, who was pushing Sakura's shoulders back to the ground. He met her eyes, and they were so tired but they had each other, they could get through this. She wouldn't be able to see most of Sasuke with Naruto's back to her, the black-haired boy's head against his chest in the awkward position where Naruto was trying to pretend he was big enough to to give an encompassing Iruka-hug.

“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura called, slightly breathless but otherwise firm, “I'm fine now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mark as of the end of the chapter. It's hard to describe D: But if you're familiar with classical Chinese noble ladies, hopefully something rung a bell
> 
> Can you guys tell I find Sakura the easiest to write? I mean, it's not like her word count completely overshadows the other three...
> 
> We go from ~emotions~ to Kakashi trolling the shit out of them to _intense panic for everyone_. And my first more intense NaruSasu moment!
> 
> After Sakura's bit, it gets pretty trippy since they're all freaking out, but I'm not sure how well that was conveyed...Especially Sasuke's PTSD/panic attack. Mine aren't from my entire family and extended family being killed by a sibling, so I'm not sure how similar they would be. It's so easy to slide into writing Sakura and filling out everything so stuff isn't short and choppy, but I want the other's POVs and I've already set up the chapters to be Sakura->Kakashi->Sasuke->Naruto...*Continues muttering in corner*
> 
> Question time!: Why do you read time-travel fanfics; fixing wrongs, reliving pre-timeskip, going even further back to the eras that weren't thoroughly explored in canon...? If this is your first one, what caught your eye?


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